New Delhi: In a boost to armed forces‘ capability to fight the enemy better and to counter inimical forces, three key defence systems developed locally by India‘s defence research agency were inducted into the army, navy and the air force today.

Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh handed over the three indigenous systems, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria and Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane at an event here.

While Admiral Singh received the Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS), Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria got the ASTRA Mk1 air-to-air missile, and General Naravane the Border Surveillance System (BOSS). Minister of State for Defence Shripad Yesso Naik and Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat witnessed the induction.

“The development of these high technology systems has led to higher self-reliance in defence technologies. These three systems, which have completed the design and development cycles and are being deployed, were handed over to the services,” a Ministry of Defence statement said.

IMSAS is a state-of-the-art, fully indigenous, high performance intelligent software system that provide Global Maritime Situational Picture, marine planning tools and analytical capabilities to the Indian Navy.

The system provides Maritime Operational Picture from naval headquarters to each individual ship at sea to enable naval command and control. Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) in Bengaluru and the navy have jointly conceptualised and developed the product, while Bengaluru-headquartered Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has implemented it.

ASTRA Mk1 is the indigenously developed, first Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile, which can be launched from Sukhoi Su-30, Light Combat Aircraft, MiG-29 and MiG-29K. Globally, very few countries have expertise and capabilities to design and produce this class of weapon system.

Successful development of ASTRA weapon system by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) at Hyderabad and production by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), also in Hyderabad, is a major contribution towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat‘.

BOSS is an all-weather electronic surveillance system successfully designed and developed by Instruments Research and Development Establishment at Dehradun. The system has been deployed at the Ladakh border area for day and night surveillance. India is currently engaged in a military face-off with Communist China along the Line of Actual Control since May.

The system facilitates monitoring and surveillance by automatically detecting the intrusions in harsh high-altitude sub-zero temperature areas with remote operation capability. The system is being produced by BEL at Machlipatnam.

Rajnath Singh also gave away awards to DRDO scientists for outstanding contributions in various categories. The DRDO Lifetime Achievement Award for 2018 was presented to N. V. Kadam for his contributions towards developing control and guidance schemes for missiles.

Excellence awards were given to academia and industry for technology absorption, besides individual awards, team awards, technology spin-off awards, techno managerial awards and awards in other categories.

DRDO Chairman and Department of Defence Research and Development Secretary Dr G. Satheesh Reddy said DRDO is committed to the development of advanced systems and technologies for defence forces, and that DRDO strives to create robust ecosystem of defense design, development and production along with academia, industry and armed forces.

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